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WEEKEND NETFLIX DRAMAS IN SWEDISH WITH STRONG FEMALE LEADS
Introducing some unusual Netflix dramas that pass the Bechdel test with flying colours.
Practice your Swedish and get an insight into two ends of Swedish society, the glitzy rich and the filthy poor.
Nb These are not for you if you’re looking for light-hearted Mamma Mia entertainment
QUICKSAND – NETFLIX SERIES, SWEDEN 2019
This is not the usual Nordic noir with grumpy coppers and muddy fields, this series is set in the slightly unusual landscape of a school shooting in upper-class Stockholm and follows the teenagers involved through this disastrous time.
It’s a tough watch, especially if you have teenage kids, it’s brutal – both mentally and physically.
Based on a book, but not a true story, the series focuses on 18-year-old Maja (an outstanding performance by Hanna Ardéhn) who’s life turns into havoc as her relationship with her unstable, filthy rich boyfriend, Sebastian, develops. The drama jumps between Maja’s flashbacks of the school shooting and the court hearings.
The glitzy kids balance between the unattainably premature and totally out of control. The core of the drama is a fragile point of adolescence transitioning into adulthood with unfulfilled childhood needs. Ties and responsibility for each other that aren’t met – or are over extended – and the result thereof.
Image from Trädgårdsgatan, Primodrom Produktion AB
TRÄDGÅRDSGATAN – NETFLIX FILM, SWEDEN 2017
https://www.netflix.com/watch/81471052
A debut director, refused by the big Swedish financiers, Olof Spaaks, has managed to bring a beautiful but tragic story to life in this film about two children growing up with addict parents. It depicts how we shape our memories differently, depending on needs and demeanour.
The struggles of the dysfunctional parents trying to keep everything together, the gritty situation the kids grow up in, the stories we tell ourselves and the joy of the little things in life that can keep us going.
Interesting to see how in a choice between two dysfunctional families, the favoured one is the drug dependent junkies living in squalor, as at least there’s passion, love and connection.
BEYOND (SVINALÄNGORNA) – NETFLIX, SWEDEN 2010
Another Swedish unsettling series about a dysfunctional family, based on the book by Susanna Alakoski with true childhood memories.
A far too young child trying to keep the family together and later almost destroying her own family because of the memories, while her mother is dying.
The set design and wardrobe is fantastic and slightly disturbing as it’s the worst from my own childhood era – but also shows a Sweden we’ve tried to hide from the rest of the world for a long time.
Noomi Rapace (The girl with the dragoon tattoo, Jack Ryan) is great as the grownup girl facing her own memories, her younger version is superb and Outi Mäenpää and Ville Virtanen as her parents are absolutely outstanding.
Enjoy! Mi 
Mi Elfverson is the Founder of The Vlog Academy and creator of EyeStorm
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